Only assignment information is available in the Exchange client (Outlook, OWA, and so on). The only actions that a user can take in the Exchange client are viewing, updating, and deleting Project tasks. Creating or reassigning a new project task has to be done in Microsoft Project Web App (PWA).

Here is how Exchange integration with Project Server 2010 is achieved: Project Server uses the SSL protocol to communicate with a computer that is running Exchange Server. Project Server uses Exchange Impersonation on behalf of specific users to make calls between computers that are running Exchange and Project Server.

Exchange integration does not support viewing or updating of tasks that are tracked by time-phased time periods. However, users can still update their status by updating the % Work complete or Actual Work/Total Work. The Statusing class in the Project Server Interface (PSI) handles the distribution of work.

When PWA is in Single Entry Mode (SEM), the application continues to sync tasks to Exchange and accept updates on task changes from Exchange by using the Tasks page in PWA. The information is immediately available on the timesheet when in SEM. This is one reason why, when in Single Entry Mode, it appears that you can still update assignment on the Tasks page. It is due to the way Outlook functionality is implemented.

For Actual Work/Total Work and % Work complete, the following rules should apply:

Columns modified

Processing logic

% Work complete only

Apply % Work complete

Actual Work only

Apply Actual Work

Total Work only

Apply Total Work

% Work complete and Actual Work

Apply % Work complete

% Work complete and Total Work

Apply Total Work and then % Work complete

Actual Work and Total Work

Apply Total Work and then Actual Work

% Work complete, Actual Work, and Total Work

Apply Total Work and then % Work complete. Drop Actual Work.

Start Date and Finish Date alone

Update Total Work and let Project Server calculate % Work complete and Actual Work

Start Date and Finish Date together with the work and % Work complete columns

When project task information is updated through Project Publish or through a status update, a low priority queue job, "Syncing Tasks to Exchange," is created. This job updates or creates a task for the assigned resource's mailbox if the resource has been set up to synchronize their Project Tasks with the Exchange mailboxes. This job has lower priority than Project Publish jobs and Status Update jobs to allow all changes in the queue for a given task to be processed before Exchange Server is updated. When the job executes, it retrieves the latest changes to the task and the log and puts them into the mailbox for each resource that is assigned to the task. It also updates the task details. The Tasks will appear in folders that are named for the project that the task belongs to.

Note

There are two queue jobs, one for Publish and one for Statusing:

ExchangeStatusingSyncMessage — LowPriority

ExchangeSyncPublishingMessage — This job is sent with the rest of the publishing group, which has a standard priority